Machine fob habdening hat-bodies



STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH BOOTH, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR HAHDENING HAT-Robins.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 18,181, dated September 15, 1'857.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOSEPH BOOTH, of Newark, in the county of Essex and Sta-te of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Hardening Hat-Bodies; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being'A had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my hardening machine, Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the same, Fig. 3 a cross section at the lin-e of Fig. 1 and Fig. 4L represents an elevation of the cone on which the hat body to be hardened is supported, and Fig. 5 represents the conical cover which is placed over the hat body.

The object of my invention is to harden fur hat bodies so as to prepare them for the well known process of sizing or jetting. In the manufacture of hat bodies by hand it is customary to harden them by working them by hand in damp cloths, an operation which requires considerable time, as well as skill and practice on the part of the operator.

Hat bodies formed by machinery, either directly upon perforated conical formers, or by app-lying machine-made bats to conical formers, have been hardened in various ways sometimes by dipping them into hot liquids and sometimes by subjecting them to the action of jiggering rollers, covers or other contrivances by which the felt-ing of the fibers is induced.

My invention is applicable to fur hat bodies formed either wholly by hand or by machinery, or partly by both.

It consists in a hardening machine of peculiar construction, in which a bat, previously supported upon one cone and covered with another, is inserted; and by whose action the cones are caused to rub upon the bat with a rapid tremulous movement which causes its fibers to interlace and thus eiects the hardening.

The apparatus as represented in the accompanying drawings consists mainly of an inverted skeleton cone or cradle A. formed of ribs united at top by a rim c. and at bottom by a block or base Z9, the latter is supported upon a crank pin e secured to the upper end of a vertical spindle F, which eX- tends downward through the floor of the apartment and is stepped in a bridge tree G beneath. This spindle is litted with a pulley 71, to which a band is applied by means o-f which a rapid rotary motion is imparted to the spindle. The Askeleton cone is maintained in an erect position by a stock k which is made fast to it andeXtends upward to the ceiling above where it is received in a mortise in a plate Z, secured to the beams. The

mortise and stock are square, so that the skeleton cone is not permitted to revolve with the spindle; this tendency to revolve may be more eectually prevented by connecting the rim by means of a strap with some stationary object, as for example the wall of the apartment or a post.

Two cones, M and N, are used in connection with the machine, one of them (N) receives the bat upon it; the other (M) is placed over the bat. When the machine is used to harden hatbodies formed by machinery upon a perforated conical former or cone like the cone N, this former acts as the inner cone and the hat body may be hardened at once upon the cone on which it has been formed by simply placing the covering cone over it, and submitting the whole to the action of the apparatus. When the machine is used to harden bats which are formed either by hand or by machinery upon flat surfaces and are then united upon a conical former to form a hat body, the conical former takes the place of the inner cone above mentioned. When however t-he bats are formed by hand or by machinery and united upon a paper inlayer, the paper inlayer must be removed and the hat body opened and applied to the cone N, and the covering cone placed over the hat body before submitting it to the action of the apparatus. In all cases the two cones with the hat body between them are dropped tip downward int-o the skeleton cone or cradle of the machine, and the spindle F is put in motion. As the spindle revolves with great rapidity and as the cradle is supported or held eccentrically thereto by the crank pin and is also prevented from turning on its axis, it receives a continuous rapid tremulous or jiggering motion from the shaft, and this motion has the effect of causing the inner cone to revolve in a direction opposite to that of the spindle, while the outer cone is prevented from revolving by its friction against the cradle in which it rests; as the inner cone in its revolution rubs upon the hat body it tends to carry the hat around with it,- and causes the latter to move slightly and rub upon the exterior cone, so that while the bers of the hat body receive a tremulous movement it is at the same time rubbed on both its sides. rl`his combined operation causes the rapid hardening of the hat body which 4is then removed from the apparatus by withdrawing the cones and removing it therefrom.

In order to prevent the rotation of the outer cone it is advisable to wrap the ribs of the hardening machine with rags or to pad them, thus forming cushions whose friction upon the cone prevents its movement. And when hat bodies of small size are to be hardened, the thickness of the padding should be increased in order to adapt the size of the machine to the size of the cones employed. In order that the interior cone may revolve with certainty it must be of a certain weight, and if on trial it be found that the cone does not revolve it should be Weighted by dropping into it a bag of sand or tan bark kept at hand for the purpose. The cone should be formed of perforated metal or wire cloth or of some similar material which will present an eficient rubbing` surface to act .upon the hat bodies.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- A hardening machine operating substantially as herein set forth and consisting substantially of a cradle and of a rapidly revolving spindle upon which the cradle is supported eccentrically.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my naine.

JOSEPH BOOTH.

Vitnesses:

IVM. BRADSHAW, JOHN A. SHARP. 

